


Their Bed

by The_Golden_Trashcan_TM



Series: A Crown of Candy: The Rocks Before War [2]
Category: A Crown of Candy - Fandom, Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: happiness doesn't exist here, it's another sad one lads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24667339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Golden_Trashcan_TM/pseuds/The_Golden_Trashcan_TM
Summary: Caramelinda muses about her relationship with Amethar as she tries (and fails) to get ready for bed
Series: A Crown of Candy: The Rocks Before War [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1785442
Kudos: 25





	Their Bed

She stared at herself in the mirror, tears falling down her face as she took a deep breath and took down her hair. There were wrinkles around her eyes that she normally did well to hide and a tiredness that had claimed her since Lazuli had passed that was now catching up to her during this war.

 _I wasn’t always like this,_ she thought, brushing her hair back. _I wasn’t always this way_.

She hadn’t always been wound up so tight. She hadn’t always held such anger and pain in her chest. There was a time when she smiled more often than not and a time when she laughed with an ease that would only leave her when Lazuli did.

She stood from her vanity, making her way to her bed. _Their_ bed.

When she had first met Amethar, he had been loudly declaring that he would be going to the Dairy Isles for— Well, even now she didn’t like the word he used, but it was clear what he wanted. Calroy was laughing next to him as he took another sip of beer. Caramelinda had just walked into the throne room where she was meant to meet her betrothed. Her father was on right and mother on her left. Had it not been her ability to talk to anyone and save any situation, she might have let the disgust she felt show on her face. As it was, she turned her attention away from the rowdy young prince and to his older sisters. They were all looking at their brother, looking a mix of tired, endeared, and vaguely irritated.

Instead of sitting at their thrones, all of them, including King Jadain and Queen Pamelia, were sitting at a round table with a map in front of them. General Rococoa was looking at it as she stood, and she was the first to notice her.

She cleared her throat and silence fell immediately between the boys and Calroy quickly left, bowing before scurrying away. The king and Queen stood, greeting her and she felt her heart quicken as they called Lazuli and the other’s over. Caramelinda had already met her before then. They had mingled at parties and talked quietly in gardens when they could escape. She was mesmerized by her talent and intelligence and kindness. She was never too sure what Lazuli was thinking, her mind trying to pull coherency out of a million different thoughts, but Caramelinda could see genuine happiness when Lazuli’s eyes fell on her.

She had also talked to the rest of the sisters at balls and political gatherings when it suited her. They were all wonderful if an odd assortment to have come from the same home. But Amethar she hardly even _seen_ until now. She had once asked Lazuli about him, but she had said so many things, most of which that contradicted each other, that Caremlinda had started laughing, smitten with how she was.

He stood tall, but still a little shorter than his sisters. He was… handsome, she supposed. Strong features and mischievous eyes that she knew many young lords and ladies would be thrilled to have look at them. Caramelinda, she could definitively say, was not interested. If not for his crass remark when she first entered, then for his general lack of self-awareness and disregard for his duties.

Now, of course, it hadn’t changed. Even after all these years, you’d think something would change, but there was almost no fondness between them, especially now. Not after he had lied to her all these years.

She ran her fingers through her hair, walking away from her bed. _Their_ bed.

It wasn’t all bad of course. When all of their sisters were gone and Lazuli was among them, she had had Amethar to lean on. At this point she… Well, she hadn’t exactly become affectionate toward him, but he did have moments when she thought he was tolerable. Like when he finally did his part and stood with his family, regal and proud. Or when he would smooth talk lords and ladies and keep lines of communication open even when it didn’t seem like it would be. She liked him then, and she could see how amazing he could actually be if he just put in the work.

But he didn’t and so she put up with him as Lazuli’s younger brother and one of her extended family.

However, that day, that one fateful, _horrible_ day, when Lazuli died, she was sure she loved him. He was suddenly thrust into a role he didn’t want and wasn’t prepared for and when he looked to her, saw her broken-hearted and grieving, he straightened up and walked forward without her, waiting.

When that day passed, and she finally stood up, she was sure she’d never love again. On her wedding day, in a dress meant for the love of her life, she kissed a man she barely tolerated and began her life as queen next to a king she knew would lean on her for everything and give her nothing in return.

That is until her girls were born.

Ruby and Jet made everything bearable. Two years after the war ended her delightful bundles of joy were born and she did love again. At that moment she loved Amethar. For all he grieved her, she wouldn’t have them without him. And she loved Ruby and Jet more than she thought was possible to love another person.

They were beautiful, perfect, squirming little girls. She kissed their hands, crying tears of joy. Before then she could hardly remember happiness without the curse of grief following. Without the creeping knowledge of what Lazuli would say or think or do when something happened.

 _She would love the two of you,_ Caramelinda thought as they yawned, swaddled in their blankets. _She would have seen so many timelines and picked the best ones._

Until she found out that Amethar had been married before and didn’t tell her, she hadn’t realized how much anger and malice lived in her or when she had even begun to truly feel it. If she thought about it, she would know that the moment Ruby and Jet were born, she had wished more than anything that they were her and Luzuli’s children. Would have recognized why when she looked at Amethar doting on them, that she felt so irritated all at once. But she had pushed it away, thinking it was just a moodiness from leftover pregnancy hormones.

Caramelinda went to the window, looking down at the tents and frowning. Perhaps… perhaps she had been too harsh with the girls and Liam. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe Theobald when he told her that they were strong. In fact, it was _because_ she believed him that she was even more invested keeping them safe.

General Rococoa was one of the bravest people she’d ever gotten the honor of knowing and Lazuli was the most talented, but war doesn’t care who is brave and who is talented. War doesn’t care that you love someone and need to get back to them. War leaves no one undecimated by its presence and Caramelinda knew that firsthand. She would not have her girls, her daughters, the only people in this world that she could truly say she loved, wrapped up in a war.

She sighed, scanning the tents. It was odd to see them there when normally she kept the grounds so neat and orderly. Still, she—

Sudden movement drew her eye to a nearby parapet where someone was falling. Someone who looked like—

On the other side of her vision was a small point of light bouncing and figure she could recognize even from this far away was running toward the castle. And then the light went out. And then there was an explosion near where Amethar had been falling, cola splashing over the shores. And energy crackled around him as he made his way to land, the anger coming off of him in near-visible waves. And Caramelinda knew grief so deep that the floors and windows instantly began to caramelize around her.

She caught a glimpse of her bed ( _their_ bed) in the window reflection and remembered something she hadn’t thought about in a long time: the girls used to crawl into bed with them. When the shadows seemed to dance a little too close or they just felt like causing Theo worry, they would sneak into Caramelinda and Amethar’s room. Crawl into bed like thieves in the night and in the morning, she would wake up to their sleepy faces often cuddled next to Amethar, a source of heat for their small bodies. She remembered how content she felt, happy that her family was safe as the light of the bulb shined down on their happy, healthy faces.

She turned from the window and began to run. Amethar the Unfallen would live to uphold his title, but Queen Caramelinda, should she survive this night, would live to gain one. She would not lose one more person she loved to war if she could help it—and may the Hungry One devour anyone who got in her way.


End file.
